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READ THIS Before You Build and Install

Webclient is distributed as a mostly-binary release. The
platform-dependent native code and the core webclient java code are
pre-compiled. The binary distribution includes the complete webclient
and MCP Java source code. This includes the code for the sample
browser, sample MCP tests, JUnit tests, and the core webclient API and
implementation. The Netbeans project included with the webclient
distribution has build targets for the samples, as well as the core
source code.

Webclient 2.0 Alpha 9 depends on xulrunner 1.8.1.3. If you build
webclient from source, you must first build xulrunner. For instructions
on building xulrunner please visit http://www.mozilla.org/build/.

Install JDK 1.5 or later from http://java.sun.com/. Older
JDKs may work but you're on your own for support.

The binary distribution has a NetBeans 5.5 project file
to ease building and running the automated and manual tests.
It also has a non-ide build.xml file that allows building and
running without an IDE. You can download NetBeans 5.5 from http://www.netbeans.org/.
If you want to use the non-ide build file, you need Apache
Ant, which can be downloaded from http://ant.apache.org/.

Make a new empty directory, called WEBCLIENT_DIST for
the purposes of discussion. The rest of the instructions will
guide you in populating this directory.

A Netbeans 5.5 project directory that allows easily building and
running the automated tests and sample app.

webclient_2_0_a9/non-ide

A build.xml file for building and running the webclient tests and
example browser without an IDE.

webclient_2_0_a9/test

The source files for the automated tests and sample app.

XULRUNNER_DIST

The root directory of the xulrunner binary dist. The name of this
directory will vary from platform to platform.

IMPORTANT Before
launching NetBeans or running ant, make sure the directory
under XULRUNNER_DIST that contains the actual
xulrunner executable has been added to the
platform appropriate environment variables.

Win32:

Add WEBCLIENT_DIST/xulrunner to your PATH
environment variable. It is recommended to do this in an
individual command shell rather than through the System
Properties. Verify correctness by cding to the root directory
of your machine, and entering the command
xulrunner. If you see a dialog titled
"XULRunner" with "Mozilla XULRunner 1.8.1.3" as the first
line, you are ok to proceed. Otherwise, don't continue with
these instructions until you see this dialog. Click OK to
exit the dialog.

Mac OS X:

Add
WEBCLIENT_DIST/XUL.framework/Versions/1.8.1.3 to
your PATH and DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variables. Verify
correctness by cding to your home directory, and entering the
command xulrunner-bin. If you output starting
with "Mozilla XULRunner 1.8.1.3", you are ok to proceed.
Otherwise, don't continue with these instructions until you
see this output.

If you are using NetBeans

Using the same command shell where you successfully ran
the xulrunner command, start NetBeans 5.5 and use the
File->Open Project... dialog to open the "netbeans" directory
in the WEBCLIENT_DIST/webclient_2_0_a9 directory.

Go to the "Files" tab, open the "webclient" node and
edit the "webclient.properties" file.

Adjust the browser.bin.dir property to point
to the absolute path to the
xulrunner directory.

Win32

This is the directory that contains the
xulrunner.exe file. It is the same directory you
added to the PATH. IMPORTANT:
make sure this property does not contain any spaces and any
backslashes in the path are escaped. On win32, you may have
to use the funky "~" syntax. For example, Program
Files may become PROGRA~1 and
Documents and Settings may become
DOCUME~1. To see what the "~" syntax is in your
case do a dir /x in the parent directory.

For example, on my machine, browser.bin.dir is
C:\\DOCUME~1\\edburns\\MYDOCU~1\\tmp\\webclient-alpha\\xulrunner.

Mac OS X:

This is the directory that contains the XUL
library file. It is the same directory you added to the
DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH.

For example, on my machine, browser.bin.dir is
/Users/edburns/Projects/chaff/XUL.framework/Versions/1.8.1.3.

Save the modified webclient.properties
file.

Back in the Project tab, Right-click on the "webclient"
entry in the tree view and choose "Build Project".

Once the project builds successfully, you may "run" or
"test" it using the netbeans commands.

If you are using the non-ide build with ant

Using the same command shell in which you executed the
xulrunner command, cd to the non-ide directory
and copy build.properties.sample to build.properties. Edit
the file according to the environment of your system. The
same constraints about spaces and backslash characters apply
here, as in the above steps for NetBeans.

Expand the webclient node in the tree viewer.
Expand the build.xml node. Right click on the
"compile.core. src" target and select "Run Target". This will move aside
the webclient jar and compile the core sources into the build
directory.

Known Issues

Browser and General Issues

Webclient hasn't yet been stress tested, so there are probably lots
of issues that will come up with a little use.

Printing

Printing is not yet implemented.

Plugins

You can run plugins inside webclient, but on win32, the Java plugin
will not work. You must remove the java plugin. Please see the section
on installing the win32 binary in this file.

Bookmarks and History

Bookmarks is not supported with XULRunner. Both the Bookmarks and
History interfaces are incompletely implemented.

Profiles

If webclient is acting funny, it may be due to conflicting mozilla
registry file. Follow the steps in the mozilla 1.8 release notes to
remove the registry, then re-run mozilla 1.8 to generate a new
registry.

Known Bugs

Can't do File->New Window on unix: Bug 156712. This one is a real stumper for me.